Swede clears 6.30m to claim gold in Tokyo
Shoes with metal spike enable faster run-up
The pole vault competition was two hours and 20 minutes old when Mondo Duplantis finally got serious at these World Athletics Championships. The bar had just been raised to six metres. So Mondo reached into his kitbag and dug out the Claw.
It is his weird looking special shoe, with a spike protruding from the front of it like a medieval torture implement – and the 25‑year‑old Swede takes it out only on those occasions when he sniffs a world record in the air.
At this point five men were still jousting for the world title. But after Duplantis had breezed clear at 6m, 6.10m and 6.15m his eighth consecutive global title – and a $70,000 (£51,000) first prize – was secured. Now history was calling.
